Big Upset at ECC, SOCAR Shocked by Novy Bor

Friday's 6th round of the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece saw a big upset as SOCAR, the top favorites and current cup holders, lost to Novy Bor. On the lower boards SOCAR's Wang Hao and Anish Giri beat their lower rated opponents, but Fabiano Caruana, Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky all lost their games, to David Navara, Radek Wojtaszek and Viktor Laznicka respectively. In the women's section Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo won the gold medal a round before the end.

That was a stunning victory for the Czech/Polish tean from Novy Bor (Czech Republic) against the defending champion SOCAR! The team led by David Navara took over the lead, and have excellent chances to win the cup as they play the weaker team from Minsk in Saturday's final round.

The start went fine for SOCAR as Anish Giri (not bad to have a top 30 player on last board, is it?) moved to an excellent 4.5/5 with the following pretty win:

Anish Giri and Wang Hao did OK for SOCAR

Wang Hao beat Zbynek Hracek on board five, and on four Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Krishnan Sasikiran split the point. However, SOCAR's top three boards had a collective off-day which tipped the match in favor of Novy Bor: 3.5-2.5. Below you can replay these games:

David Navara beat Fabiano Caruana on top board

With one round to go SOCAR now shares second place with PGMB-Rostov, Malachite, Saint-Petersburg and Minsk.

European Club Cup 2013 | Round 6 standings

Rk.

SNo

Team

+

=

-

TB1

TB2

TB3

TB4

TB5

1

5

G-Team Novy Bor

5

1

0

11

168

24

138,5

124,5

2

1

SOCAR

5

0

1

10

170

26

124,5

100,5

3

6

PGMB-Rostov

5

0

1

10

151,5

26

115,5

91,5

4

2

Malachite

4

2

0

10

143

28

107,5

83,25

5

3

Saint-Petersburg

5

0

1

10

142

26

116

92,5

6

10

Minsk

5

0

1

10

136

26

103

83

7

9

Clichy Echecs 92

4

1

1

9

137

24

124,5

86,25

8

8

Odlar Yurdu

3

2

1

8

152

24,5

131,5

79,5

9

4

Ugra

4

0

2

8

145

23,5

131

79

10

7

O.R. Padova

4

0

2

8

124

20

135

83

11

17

Reichenstein SSB

4

0

2

8

120,5

24

97,5

55,5

12

15

S.F. Wirtzfeld

4

0

2

8

111,5

21

121,5

69,5

13

25

Asker

4

0

2

8

98

25,5

86,5

49

14

20

Besiktas JK

4

0

2

8

98

25

84

51,5

15

12

Amay Chess Club

3

1

2

7

114

20

123

62,75

16

21

En Passant

3

1

2

7

103

19,5

117,5

58

17

13

Schachclub MPO Maria Saal

3

1

2

7

96

18,5

119,5

60,25

18

19

A.S.I. Bologna

3

1

2

7

95

19

108

53,75

19

24

Limhamns SK

3

1

2

7

91,5

18

122,5

62,5

20

32

Accres Apeldoorn

3

1

2

7

77

16,5

130

68,5

21

11

Peristeri

3

0

3

6

114,5

20

122

56,5

22

16

Haladas VSE, Szombathely

2

2

2

6

87,5

20

92

43,75

23

14

SK 47 Eynatten

3

0

3

6

87,5

19

94,5

42,5

24

18

Kfar Saba Chess Club

3

0

3

6

78,5

16,5

122,5

55

25

33

Schachgesellschaft Solingen

3

0

3

6

71,5

21,5

87

35,5

26

22

Club d'Echecs de Geneve

2

2

2

6

66

15,5

115

50,5

27

39

CE De Sprenger Echternach

2

2

2

6

64,5

17,5

88

41

28

43

Edinburgh Chess Club

3

0

3

6

64

16

105,5

47

29

36

White Rose

3

0

3

6

64

15,5

116

44,5

30

37

Expik Kosova

3

0

3

6

60

17,5

91

42

31

34

Sautron

3

0

3

6

58,5

15

120

51

32

35

SK Advisory Invest Baden

3

0

3

6

56

15,5

105,5

42,5

33

27

Oslo Schakselskap

2

1

3

5

79

15

114,5

40,75

34

31

Chess Club Velhot

2

1

3

5

68

18,5

94

27,75

35

23

Jetsmark

2

1

3

5

67,5

18,5

85

30,25

36

29

Barbican 4NCL

2

1

3

5

66

12,5

136,5

51,25

37

38

The Smashing Pawns Belvaux

2

1

3

5

64,5

18,5

86,5

28,5

38

30

Viking Chess Club

2

1

3

5

62

17

90,5

32,5

39

47

Istogu Chess Club

2

1

3

5

49,5

13

104

36,75

40

26

Tammer-Shakki

2

1

3

5

48

13

125,5

38

41

48

Adare

1

2

3

4

75

15,5

97

34

42

28

Jutes of Kent

2

0

4

4

59

13,5

124,5

37

43

44

SV Voerendaal / KNSB

2

0

4

4

52,5

16

88

22,5

44

41

Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo

2

0

4

4

52

13,5

106

33

45

42

Chess Club Eppingen

2

0

4

4

45

15,5

87,5

21,5

46

51

Klubi Sportiv Butrinti

1

1

4

3

35

10,5

100,5

10

47

46

Gonzaga

1

1

4

3

31

13

88

10,5

48

49

SV Muelheim Nord 1931

1

1

4

3

31

12,5

81

10,5

49

52

Cardigan

1

1

4

3

27,5

9,5

86

10,5

50

40

Nordea Skanderborg

1

0

5

2

55

11,5

125

19

51

45

Edinburgh West Chess Club

1

0

5

2

48

12

97

13

52

53

Ippotis Rodou

0

1

5

1

45

10,5

69,5

0

53

50

White Knights Chess Club

0

1

5

1

35,5

10

75,5

0

Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo has secured the gold medals with a sixth straight win. On Friday they were far too strong for MRU - Vilniaus Fortas, whom they crushed 4-0. The top four of the best players list consists of Monaco players: Hou Yifan & Humpy Koneru with 5.0/6 and Anna Muzychuk & Pia Cramling with 4.0/5.